Dear Butt Ugly Truth Readers: This is Part One in a series of posts that will continue until Lauren’s story is told. Enjoy walking down memory lane paved by her, her sisters and her brother.
Part One
Thirteen years ago a star was born. A tiny star that promised to grow brighter and bigger year by year. It’s called “Laurenstar”. I will be able to give you it’s exact heavenly coordinates as soon as NASA gets back to me. In the meantime, I will tell you of the adventures of a girl named Lauren who loves life, people, and acting. A girl so bright, they named a star for her.
Lauren Braddock began her career at the simple age of 18 months when she surprised us all at her sister’s girl scout talent show. I was Alyssa’s daisy girl scout leader when she was in kindergarten. Lauren was about 18 months old and Devin was just born. Lauren was always a sharp, witty baby from the time she could put words together. Looking back now, I can’t remember a time when even her coos were more than coos. They were almost baboos. When it was time for Alyssa’s troop to perform their song, the girls filed onto stage and I followed behind them. Little did I know, Lauren was quick on my heals and jumped right into line! Since she went to all the meetings, she knew all the songs, all the words to the girl scout promise AND the girl scout law. So our troop sang our song (Lauren was the loudest), we took our bow and the curtains closed. All of the girls left the stage, except for Lauren.
I had no idea that she wasn’t still on my heels. She was very good about staying with me. It was when we got into the audience that I realized the continued applause. I looked up to see what was happening. Low and behold, but who had pushed through the curtains? Lauren had and her arms were raised straight up in a V formation, legs to match and resembling the Vetruvian Man. She was nodding and taking deep bows at the waist just beaming and aglow! I couldn’t resist joining in the applause and just letting her go! I finally managed to coax her off stage and got back to our seats. I set my son up to nurse discreetly as the next act took the stage. When they were finished and the applause started, Lauren shot from her seat and ran to the stage to take another bow! I wasn’t exactly able to keep her from running to the stage after every act since my son needed to nurse! So I just let her go – act after act, applause after applause, there she went. The audience didn’t seem to mind and indulged her every encore!
Alyssa loved her sister around most of the time and was very patient. She never looked forward to anything so much as she did to Lauren’s birth. Alyssa picked Lauren’s middle name, Elizabeth. She even carried a babydoll around that she had named Elizabeth during my pregnancy. Lauren followed her big sister, Alyssa, everywhere! From the time she could scrunch along like a worm, Lauren would search for Alyssa. She learned everything from Alyssa! Alyssa taught Lauren how to sing, dance, and talk. She taught Lauren how to be dramatic with Barbie’s and grand pirate adventures in the backyard. They used to create shows and musicals for us complete with props, costumes, scripts and all! Much of Lauren’s learning was through all the dramatic play they created together.
…..To be Continued….
Thanks for reading and stay tuned! ❤ Crystal
The Butt Ugly Truth... 